The type III secretion system needle, tip, and translocon

Protein Sci. 2019 Sep;28(9):1582-1593. doi: 10.1002/pro.3682. Epub 2019 Aug 2.

Abstract

Many Gram-negative bacteria pathogenic to plants and animals deploy the type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject virulence factors into their hosts. All bacteria that rely on the T3SS to cause infectious diseases in humans have developed antibiotic resistance. The T3SS is an attractive target for developing new antibiotics because it is essential in virulence, and part of its structural component is exposed on the bacterial surface. The structural component of the T3SS is the needle apparatus, which is assembled from over 20 different proteins and consists of a base, an extracellular needle, a tip, and a translocon. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the structure and assembly of the needle, tip, and translocon.

Keywords: T3SS needle apparatus; bacteria; tip complex; translocon; type III secretion system.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial
  • Gram-Negative Bacteria / chemistry
  • Gram-Negative Bacteria / metabolism
  • Gram-Negative Bacteria / pathogenicity*
  • Humans
  • Models, Molecular
  • Multiprotein Complexes / chemistry
  • Multiprotein Complexes / metabolism
  • Type III Secretion Systems / chemistry*
  • Type III Secretion Systems / metabolism*
  • Virulence

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Multiprotein Complexes
  • Type III Secretion Systems